Amid howling storm, a day of close-calls in Brockton

Friday

Mar 2, 2018 at 1:28 PMMar 2, 2018 at 8:14 PM

On Thursday, the weather was sunny and temperatures crested 63 degree Fahrenheit in Brockton. By Friday morning, it was a very different scene. Hurricane-force winds whipped the South Shore region and heavy rain pounded the Brockton area for hours, tapering off for just moments before intensifying again.

Tom Relihan The Enterprise TMRelihan_ENT

BROCKTON – Richard Lucey vaulted over his couch after a loud crash shook his Pearl Street home Friday afternoon. Then, parts of the ceiling began to fall on his head.

When the off-duty Randolph police officer looked up, he saw that a hole had been punched in the roof – directly over where he had been sitting – by a tree that had been taken down by the powerful wind outside. About noon, the tree’s branches draped across the back of his house like a cage. Another hole had been punched in his attic, and water damage was beginning to show in his kitchen.

Bricks dislodged from his chimney by the force of the blow punched a hole in his new patio table, which Lucey and his wife had just put outside Thusday when the weather was sunny and temperatures crested 63 degrees.

By Friday morning, it was a very different scene. Hurricane-force winds whipped the South Shore region and heavy rain pounded the Brockton area for hours, tapering off for just moments before intensifying again.

Streets near the Westgate Mall in Brockton, which lost power completely about 11:30 a.m., were flooded, forcing cars trying to reach the Pleasant Street intersection to power through water that covered most vehicles' tires completely. By 2 p.m., much of Pearl Street from the Easton line to Route 24 was without power and businesses had begun closing.

On Bradley Avenue, another falling tree caused a scary close-call for a Brockton family.

Cynthia Creighton and her daughter were fixing a screen door on their house that was being pulled open by the wind, while her 16-year-old son Rayvaughn sat in the backseat of the Kia Soul, waiting to be driven to school.

“The house shook and we heard a noise,” Creighton told The Enterprise. “Immediately, I ran because my son was in the car. The tree was on top of my car.”

The hybrid SUV was crushed and large limbs from the tree were leaning on top of the house.

“If my daughter and I were in the front seat, we would have been a goner,” Creighton said.

Rayvaughn suffered minor injuries and was brought by his grandmother to the hospital for an evaluation.

“Luckily, the car was there, because it saved it from going completely into the house,” Creighton said. “Thank God we were running a little bit late and my son is OK.”

Brockton school spokeswoman Michele Bolton said the district's dismissal wasn't affected by the storm, but the district has cancelled all after-school activities. The Boxers basketball game against Quincy High School has been rescheduled to 2 p.m. today, Brockton Athletic Director Kevin Karo said.

Several local towns, including Abington and Easton, saw downed power lines, trees and utility poles. Flooding in certain areas was expected to rival the Blizzard of ’78. Wind gusts had already reached 45 miles per hour before noon.

Heavy rain, intermittent snow and high winds with gusts exceeding 50 miles per hour are expected as the storm moves up the Eastern seaboard.

As of 11 a.m., National Grid reported 2,317 customers were without electricity in Norfolk County, 301 in Bristol County and 42 in Plymouth County.

Officials have called the storm “extremely dangerous” and “life-threatening,” particularly on the coast of the South Shore.

Gov. Charlie Baker activated 200 National Guard members to help with the storm.

Regional power utilities said they had extra crews on standby to deal with expected outages.